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Reminder: You Do NOT Have to Switch to Verizon’s New Share Everything Data Plans – Unlimited Data Can Be Kept

We see in the comments that some users are freaking out a bit and are wondering if they will be forced onto one of Verizon’s new Share Everything plans. The answer is no. Let me say that one more time, so that hopefully, it can be the last. You do not have to switch to Verizon’s Share Everything plans. With that said, if you want to keep your unlimited data plan and current minute structure, there are some things you need to know.

To Keep Unlimited Data

In order to stay locked into unlimited data after June 28 (the day Share Everything plans go live), you will have to purchase phones at full retail price, which could mean paying anywhere from $449 to $649 for a new smartphone. If you choose to buy a phone at the discount or subsidized rate ($199 or so) after June 28, you will be forced onto one of these new tiered plans (either individual or Share Everything).

Choosing Subsidy Over Unlimited

If you come to the end of a contract after June 28 and choose to upgrade at a discounted price, you will have to leave your unlimited data plan. At that time, you have a couple of choices for plans through Verizon. There will apparently be individual plans that start at $30 for 2GB of data and then of course, these new Share Everything plans. In some cases, it may be cheaper for you to purchase individual accounts than go with a Share Everything. For example, if Verizon is offering a double data promo for individual accounts ($30 for 4GB of data). If that time comes though, you will want to pull out the calculator and do the math to find your best option. To see exactly how the Share Everything plans break down, we have laid it all out for you in this post.

Tweet and Facebook and everything else about it and Hashtag #VerizonScam

HotwingCindy

I can update in a year and my contract ends in a little over 16 months. By that time I’m sure unlimited will be gone.

Ryan C

“Share Everything” would have made sense when you had more than one smartphone on a plan, all having $30 UNLIMITED data plans.. It’s unlimited, so why pay for multiple unlimited data plans, when it could be shared among the devices?

ANNMARIE

They won’t let me add a new line to my existing plan. So they are forcing me into this shared plan even though it is not June 28 yet. What is up with that.

just an opinion

You know part of the data problem is everything your smart phone does is in the cloud so they aren’t able to disable the data from your phone or it wont work—the info they collect like where your at, your speed what you look at everything is sold to businesses and insurance companies for a profit and can be used against you in suits to prove your indiscretions on the road how many miles you drive just like the onstar everyone likes in there cars and even if you dont pay for that service onstar is still collecting data — look it up– so there profits are going up from this venture and they are blaming it all on us end users — have you ever read what some of those apps collect for info — so between law enforcement and just insurance companies gathering info what else will ride on the tails of us paying the higher rates — if you have a data plan don’t use it for a while and check your data usage it still rises.. so it comes down to us paying for data they use for profits —

helixrocks

Does this count as changing our contract, not offering the unlimited to continue if we already have it. can we cancel early because of that and not pay the ETF?

10 years

Everyone go with TMobile or cricket and maybe Verizen will see whats going on and give us our unlimeted back. I paid over $700 for my phone just to keep unlimited. Next tim i upgrade or renew i loose it. I only have 6 months till 2 years. Been with them 10 years. They need to learn they cant cut us out of money!!!

meg

This total crap. Maybe I’ll just switch to straight talk. $45 a month unlimited everything.

verizon#1

Plan to leave and go where?! AT&T Haha they don’t offer unlimited data anymore either. Or maybe T Mobile if u wanna drop all ur calls and never catch 4G. Verizon has the best coverage so just suck it up cuz most people don’t need unlimited anyway!!! Ok and upgrade fees… Verizon continually invest in their network this is y they have the largest and most advanced network…also the last company to jump on bored with upgrade fees and has the lowest upgrade fee. Appreciate what u have or go somewhere else and see what u get!

Verizon is making it hard for their customers and yall will lose alot of customers because of this geez give us a break its hard out here as is and Verizon is making it worst just to talk on phone all the money that yall want we could have purchased a home.Verizon will lose alot of customers to other carriers…

The new Verizon plan sucks to no end. I am going to have to pay $34 a month more or a whooping $408.00 a year to be able to share my data on my two phones or otherwise be forced to continue paying for separate data plans for each phone I have and not allow to share. I had plan on getting a tablet but that not going to happen now.. So much for this so call plan call sharing.plan and I still say it sucks.

I don’t need unlimited talk time or texting for that matter. I don’t even come close to using my alloted talk time now and I don’t text. I don’t even come close to using my alloted data on one phone but still have to buy data for the other phone. Sucks Sucks.

Some people will save money but most will pay more. It just a Verizon sneaky way to increase cell phone cost to most customers and trying to smooth it over by making it possible for few to pay less.

I will take all my phone lines to another company if I have to start payingfulk price for a smart phone just to be able to keep my unlimited plane. This is what I singed upbfor and this what I will keep I have 5 phone lines and we can not share our time and I personaly use around 6 to 7 gigs of data a month just on my phone. Like I said I WILL TAKE MY BUSINESS ELSEWHERE. IF THIS GOES INTO AFFECT! !!!!!!!!!!

You forgot to add an asterisk after “The answer is no.” for all the disclaimers that come with it.

chicagotiger

verizon only cares about the 1% – which is how short-sighted the shelfish baby boomer society has become… little do they know that it’s good economics for the entire country if everyone had affordable access to broadband. Asian countries have speeds 5X’s faster and only pay a fraction of the cost.. yes they do not have subsidized phones..but they do have very cheap monthly bills… baby boomers don’t understand.. they want to use every resource possible to make sure the world is worse than the one they inherited.

i’ll be using the gnex until the glass is so thin I can touch the circuit boards on the phone.

overwhelmed

I really think I’ll be switching to another carrier soon. The Share Everything Plan is probably one of the worst ideas I could have ever heard of with wireless carriers. At this current time, I’m on the 300 Nationwide Talk Plan with a $10/1000 Text Package, Unlimited Data and 4G HotSpot, for around $96 a month. I CHOOSE Verizon because of their coverage, unlimited data and hotspot, which I use for school and business. But now, it’s not even worth it.

I have an upgrade next month, and my contract ends in September or October, but it’s not even worth it if I’ll be converted to a plan that will cause me to lose all of my unlimited data features just to pay the subsidized price for a smartphone. Less data for more money? I don’t think so.

Airiel Quintana

Really Verizon? We have to buy new phones or lose our unlimited data?!We’ll be switching carriers as well. This is a slap in the face to your loyal customers. Just because our grandfather plans may not be profitable to you anymore, doesn’t mean you can just alter our contract. You are likely legally within your rights, but it is still a move of bad faith against your clientele. You should be ashamed.

bill

It doesn’t matter what now you do as this is it I am done. I get this new plans work for some people, but you shouldn’t force it on us. Especially those of us who have been with your service for many years. I enjoy my plan and the unlimited data, I earned it through loyalty but since you do not understand that anymore I will not renew. I seen an alltel store out in a rural area and found out their coverage is still good as always. So I’m going back to the better company.

Rob

This is BS. Verizon just keeps getting more and more expensive. The average user is getting the shaft because of the data hogs. I could see paying $30 for 4-5 gb. Time to think about switching cell provider. VZW is off there damn rocker.

Wel

No, the average user is getting the shaft because of verizon, not because of “data hogs”. Verizon scapegoated people who use data THAT THEY PAID FOR to jack up prices.

Rob

I totally agree wei. But some people brag about using 100gb+. I heard thats why the pricing is so high. I just want fair pricing.

TxBoyinSDCA

For those of you with unlimited plans – what phone are you going to choose if you upgrade before June 28th?
– S3? (Pre-order)
– Droid 4?
– Razor MAXX
– Galaxy Nexus

Verizon just likes to screw us. If this really happens, i will be switching carriers at the end of my contracts. I pay $200 a month for 2 phones with data plans and 1 reg cheap phone….T-mobile, AT&T, or Sprint, here I come!

Do YOU EVEN OFFER UNLIMITED DATA? And I pay $30 for 2 gb and $50 for 5 and 100for the unlimited text and 1400 shared minutes so with the share talk and text for two smart phones what will my bill be ? If I go with the unlimited

I just wish Verizon would’ve first asked me for my firstborn before it snatched my unlimited away.

Dan Burkes

I’ve worked really hard to get a great discount on my phone line from companies that ive worked for, promotions and the like. all of that will go away once my contract runs out. Has anyone had any good experiences with Sprint? looking like a better option all the time.

I currently pay about $60 a month before taxes for 450min, unlimited data and text.

FYI… My brothers upgrade date was 6/28 so i called verizon and they gave me an early upgrade. spoke with a few different people and 2 managers and they WILL NOT let you preorder an S3 when they give you an early upgrade. They did an exception in the computer since it was less than 30 days before the upgrade, but it wont let them select a preordered phone as an upgrade. I also asked if I order a Nexus, and the S3 comes out within the return policy what happens if I exchange it for an S3. I was told I can certainly do that in the store but it will change the account to shared data. Pretty much if you do anything what so ever in any way, shape or form to the data features on your account ON or AFTER june 28th you will go to shared data. Kind of sucks because he wanted an S3 obviously but theres no way to do it unless you already have an upgrade.
Early upgrades WILL not allow for upgrades to a preorder phone. Sorry guys

Vickihaag1

If Verizon states this share everything plan this will be my last time under this contract . Sprit will be my next carrier heard some good things about them .So sad I have been with Verizon for a very long time well over 10 + years . This would be the first time ever to have a complaint . So sad .

lynsi joyce

I am an indirect Verizon rep. You folks are forgetting that this structuring has been requested by the customers. I get DOZENS of people on a daily basis wants “family” data. They want to SHARE data. Most customers are excited about this change. I am a heavy user but on my family plan, i will SAVE money. The biggest complaint among family accounts is that they have to pay for EACH phone to have data. Well here is what you guys asked for! LOL. Keep in mind that 99% of users DO NOT user over 2gb. Honestly, they dont. Some people dont even use HALF of a gb in a month. This will save the majority of people money. Keep in mind our upgrade fee is on average 15% lower than the majority of carriers. The reason verizon pushed this so early is because they are racing with another major carrier on who can come up with it first.

Common Sense

So for 2 people that now pay $29.99 for unlimited = $59.98 on a Family Plan, now for the same price they get to share 2GB. Our family shared plan of 700 minutes is $69.98 + $9.99 for the second line, which matches the new $40 per phone. We don’t give a hoot about unlimited calling. So, ya, that’s what we asked for, please let us pay the same for less!!! What people wanted was a reasonable amount to pay for data, not spend more money or get less for the same money. If they would have made the prices reasonable $15 = 1 GB, $20 = 2 GB, $30 = 4GB, etc. and leave an option for people who do not care about unlimited phone or texts; THAT is what we were asking for!

Doug

I have a iPhone 4 w/unlimited 3g data. When the iPhone 5 comes this fall
and I PAY FULL PRICE for it will I get 4G unlimited data or will I be
forced into a data share plan?

Suzanne Stooksbury

We had to add 2 more lines to our plan in order to get iPhones. There is only my daughter and I. We pay fo 4 phones and only use 2, there gonna get ya coming and going. Oldest daughter bought out her contract in order to get a smartphone and new number. She ended up spending almost 400 bucks! Sure miss the ease of home phones. These days ya gotta have cell phones for everything! And companies take advantage of this!

Does the preordering exception with the Galaxy SIII apply to those who ordered from Best Buy? Or should I go cancel my preorder and order from Verizon?

Jamie Horne

We were told two different things from two different Verizon reps on this today….when we called Verizon independently they said our unlimited data would be safe if we pre-ordered through Best Buy before the 28th and they noted it on our account. When we called Best Buy to double check they said they didn’t know and they patched us through to Verizon who then said they couldn’t confirm we would keep our unlimited plans and we would just have to wait and see when our phones get here…

Mr. Wiggles

Wait, actually does this apply to people who already have tiered data? Or just those with unlimited? I have a 4gb plan for $30

Jamie Horne

This only applies to people who have unlimited data plans.Those of us with unlimited plans can either upgrade before the 28th, pay full retail price on a phone or switch to a tiered data plan like yours/a new shared data plan. I don’t think this affects your tiered data plan.

J Dub

I need info on the release of the Incredible 4G stat. This device will fit my wife’s wants perfectly and fit my need to haves for her. It has LTE and with the S4 chip should have pretty decent 4G battery life. If the release is indeed on the 21st I’ll wait to get it for her. She likes the 4″ form factor. It will also actually be unlockable which all of the Moto phones can’t say. Plus it will ship with ICS unlike, again, all the Moto phones.

Edgar

So say you get a dummy line on a family plan for upgrades only, can you upgrade the dummy then transfer the phone over to your unlimited line and still be cool?

SubMatrix

I’m pretty sure yes, you would just have to pay $10 a month on that dummy line (or whatever it is) so $240 over 2 years + $200 for the new phone

Trevor

I wonder what portion of these shared plans business discounts will apply to.

steven

i pay 145 with four phone and with this shared everything i would be paying 190

kfath1978

Just got off the phone w/ a VZW asking about the changes and she had no idea what I was talking about. She said I had more information then her at this point. I read her some of the info I found here on DL and she was either playing dumb or has not been trained on the new plans. She advised me to call back in a few days when they have more info so she could better answer my questions….Bottom line for me is that I would be paying about $20 more a month for one of their stupid little plans…..#greed

I pay 10 bucks a month for unlimited. My contract ends 12/12 just when new phones come out. I suggest that one your contracts are up you switch to Metro PCS (they use Verizon towers), Simple Mobile, and so on. Buy your new phones from Ebay, and get no contract unlimited everything for 60 bucks!!! I really hope people know that there are too meny options now to be stuck with just Verizon!

VZWfence

Between my wife and I with our 2 smartphones, our current plan cost is $175. if we chose a 10g data plan (which should be more than enough) our bill is 180 and i get my upgrades at discount…i think you really gotta weigh the options here

kfath1978

So is Sprint the only company that is offering unlimited data? I have a line on my VZW account that is up for renewal at the end of July…… I will start moving my lines over when the contracts are up.

MikeG

I have 2 smartphones and a dumb phone and this is still a bad deal, given that I got the 5/10 double data deal. So much for Verizons Rape Everyone plan.

gary

Was told by a Verizon agent that I’d you already have an unlimited data plan that you are grandfathered in

Chris cook

If this is the case they should atleast allow plans that are not up until after this to do a 2 year renewal now. I have been with verizon for 8 years have multiple discounts applied to my account. always paid bills on time.

Trutalk

Everyone has been asking about having shared data plans…. Here u go! most people that are on the unlimited plan use less than the 2 g allowed on the reg 30.00 plans soooooo check ur usage before u start complaining. If anything I think Verizon will gain customers instead of losing them. They r the most reliable.

sadone

They already have been doing this at the verizon stores in our area…had to go to Costco to get a phone at a reasonable price and stay with unlimited. It figures that they would close that loophole.

Doug

What if my phone now is unlimited 3G and I buy a 4G phone at full price after June 28, will my new 4G phone be unlimited?

Aryeh Hersh

Yes it will. You only lose it if you take subsidized pricing.

wayne

Largest growth in three years and this is how they repay their loyal customers. Guess it’s time to give someone else the largest growth.

How does this work if I’m going to hijack my daughters upgrade? Since she’s not the one with unlimited, will I still be okay?

Aryeh Hersh

Yes, your just txfring the upgrade and your phone will keep unlimited.

Fatalis

So i can sell my galaxy nexus for $400 and get the samsung galaxy s3 for $200. Just like upgrading and i keep my unlimited plan. Problem solved

aaCharley

You can only get the GS3 for that $200 price if you are using an upgrade. Of course, that could be possible, but the GNexus has only been out for about a year. It is interesting to look on Ebay and see that the Nexus is still selling for about $300 used, bugs and all.

FeedupwithVerizon

Doesn’t this change the terms of a contract? And with that in mind, shouldn’t we be able to leave our contracts without penalty then?

Aryeh Hersh

It does not as you are not being forced to switch. You only switch if you take subsidized pricing which requires a new contract. If you pay retail then you don’t have to sign a new contract.

too late for me, already on Verizon PREPAID on a slideout qwerty LG Extravert. I want Verizon’s network even if its off contract and I will find away to get around the roaming. A lot of their roaming areas based on their maps are areas I don’t plan to travel to anyway and I would rather go being month to month where I am paying more for a phone but on month to month on MY TERMS. I pay 50 a month for unlimited talk, text and Mobile Web unlimited. With all these fees on smartphone data, maybe I don’t need an Android or IPhone or Blackberry or whatever that badly no more. Less money for Big Red and more money back on my pocket saving me about $100 a month. By going back to a flip phone also, is another way to stick it to Big Red. 5-10 years ago, all that was out there was basic phones, while smartphones were only for “business” people. IPhone and Android didn’t exist yet and corporate people only had Blackberries for emails. We as a society need to take a stand to such greed and show we are not going to take it anymore. With all this capping and throttling, maybe I don’t need a smartphone that badly and the headaches that come along with it.

jh120

Any idea what would happen if one of our lines (which is currently using a 3G phone) switched to one of my old 4G phones after June 28? IIRC your data plan technically changes if you go from 3G to 4G, so would that line lose its unlimited data?

According to Best Buy since the preorder only reserves that you get a phone on release day, it does not mean you are changing your contract…simply, it only means you are reserving the phone…when it arrives you activate it and make the changes to your account…if the activation occures after 28th it is essentially just like walking into a Verizon store on the 29th and buying that phone…so preorders made with Best Buy will loose your unlimited data.

TheRealChizz

Can you still upgrade your phone if your not eligible for a upgrade? cause my upgrade is not till next may and i want the GS3

Then nothing changes. Verizon can’t change your contract in the middle of it, they can only offer you a new plan when you upgrade/sign up for a new 2 year contract. If you want to keep your current phone forever, or buy a new phone at full retail price, your contract can go on without changing.

ribos

What if you are on a family plan right now, and you are not the lead phone on it, but your contract is up and you have an upgrade available. Does that force you off the family plan where the family plan is the old plan with unlimited data? Or can you stay on unlimited with the family plan and the main phone is the one that will take it off unlimited?

So my mom now has 15 days to upgrade her old blackberry, on contract, if she wants to keep her unlimited data. I guess I’ll have her pre-order a Galaxy S-3

PixelDestiny

Serious question: My mom and my sister both have upgrades due exactly on June 28th, will we be able to upgrade on the 28th and keep their unlimited data plans, or will we have to try to get them to do it the day before?

sinofueramos

Get an early upgrade. They’ll do up to 3 months in advance.

DroidBricker

Yea, mine is on July 16th and they told me if I preordered I’d keep unlimited and could upgrade early. I’m not going to though. 2 years of Big Red holding back updates is enough for me in 1 lifetime.

Sting

I’m debating the same thing….

Doug

You need to do it the day before.

Mark Lewis

I’m on unlimited 3G now. If I pay full price for a 4G LTE phone after June 28, will that upgrade me to unlimited 4G LTE?

SubMatrix

A good question…my impression is that you will lose unlimited. I think when you buy your first 4G phone you have to start a new “4G data plan”. This includes buying off contract, since technically your plan right now is a 3G unlimited data plan. I could be wrong though, hopefully someone will correct me if so.

Bionic

im not paying full retail for a phone, sorry. If im going to spend that much money it would be on something else, not a phone that sits in my pocket 8 hours a day and I might check it 3 times. I use 1 GB on avg a month, so does my wife, we’re fine.

balthuszar

so what about if our main line never upgrades…but the other lines do? how does that affect this? i.e. my phone number is the main line of our 4 lines…it’s got an upgrade in october of this year, however the other three lines have upgrades at some point next year…so if i don’t technically upgrade my phone…how does this affect the shared data?

JDHokie

You can keep your current family plan. If the other lines upgrade, your unlimited data line will not be affected. If the other lines have unlimited data, they will be forced onto a tiered data plan.
If any of them have admin rights and choose to switch the family plan to a Shared Everything plan, you will be affected.

SubMatrix

I have yet another question. I am currently on a unlimited 3G plan, and have been waiting for the Verizon Galaxy S3 reviews to come out before I buy it. It looks like I’ll be forced to preorder it now in order to keep my unlimited data, that much is for sure.

What I DON’T know is…will I be grandfathered into unlimited 4G data? Technically the unlimited 3G and unlimited 4G data plans are different plans as one costs more than the other. I want to get locked into unlimited 4G data and get the S3. Is it possible if coming from a 3G phone?

Travis Keany

Unless I’m mistaken, there are not separate 3G and 4G plans. There is just data. So if you have unlimited 3G now, and upgrade to a 4G phone before 6/28, you will have unlimited 4G.

SubMatrix

But does preordering an S3 now mean I’m upgrading in time? Technically I wouldn’t activate the phone until after 6/28 right?

Travis Keany

When is the line eligible for upgrade? According to this article, buying a discounted S3 today (or before 6/28) does lock in unlimited data.

SubMatrix

My line has been eligible since January of this year…I had been waiting for the right phone to come along 🙂

SubMatrix

My line has been eligible since January of this year…I had been waiting for the right phone to come along 🙂

JDHokie

DL has reported that Verizon said S3 preorders will be able to keep their unlimited plan.

Doug

Sub, I had a Palm Pixi Plus(3G) and preordered the S3 on the June 6th. My unlimited data plan carried over. You will not have a problem keeping it if you preorder now or pick up another phone by the June 28th.

Travis Keany

I have a family plan right now, 700 minutes shared, unlimited sms/mms, and unlimited data for both phones. I upgraded to the gnex about 3 months ago, but the other line is eligible for an upgrade on 7/26/12. Will upgrading the second phone on the plan cause me to have to change the entire family plan?

It doesn’t seem like I have any unlimited options for that 2nd line (aside from keeping the current phone) because the upgrade eligibility is just outside of when Share Everything starts.

What if I don’t want a “shared data plan?” I have unlimited data right now, if I want to just get 2 gigs of data (NOT shared) for $30 like they have it now. Would that be possible?

JDHokie

Yes

Sammy

I have the razr maxx and I’m not in contract now. I got it off eBay a few months ago. Do I need to do anything to keep my unlimited or am I good?

hkklife

Go and preorder a GS3 now and extend your unlimited by another 2 years. Better safe than sorry. Or get another Maxx to extend your contract. Sell one of the phones for big $ after the 28th to cover the subsidized upgrade and stick the rest in your pocket and continue on as normal. Thats precisely what I am planning to do!

jjt to save the day

Call Sylvia Thomas [Executive Relations Office] @ 240-568-2185

Yes this is the real number for the ERO. Also, call the FCC. Flood FCC with calls about this _and_ the new $30 upgrade fee. Verizon continues to ask more out of customers while providing us with less. The only way they will get the picture is through incessant complaints from customers and investigations from the FCC, and of course, fear of losing a multitude of customers!

After doing the math the extra money I would pay for the everything plan would add up to more than the full price of a phone. So unless I change to sprint or T-Mobile I’m going to put money back every month and never sign a contract again.

JustAthought

This is where I am confused. If we start paying full retail prices for our devices why should we stick with Verizon’s expensive plans? If we are going to pay full price shouldn’t we switch to Simfree or Straight talk and pay 45 dollars for unlimited everything? That way we actually save a lot of money. I don’t like the idea of paying 500 to 600 per device and then on top of that paying 99 to 120 dollars worth of usage.

epyon0

makes sense but the prepaid carriers are still owned by vzw & others or use their networks. & no guarantee in the future they will still have the same coverage or prices would stay low.

Bionic

because straight talk’s signal sucks

SubMatrix

I still haven’t heard what happens in the following scenario: if you’re on a family plan and someone in your family upgrades to a new phone after June 28, is the entire family plan now automatically on shared data?

Edit: I see below that a lot of other people have the same question.

Doug

I am waiting on a response to this as well.

JDHokie

No. You can keep your current family plan. If the person doing the upgrade has an unlimited plan and pays the subsidized upgrade cost, they will have to choose a tiered data plan (2 GB for $30, 5 for $50, etc)

If the person who does the upgrade is an authorized admin on your account and makes the decision to switch the family plan to Shared Everything, then yes, everyone would be affected.

I think when my contract is up on my Gnex (which I bought on release day), I’m going to switch to ATT. I’m only willing to do it though if 4G LTE comes to my city. Phones on ATT generally get better battery life, faster updates, and better phones overall. Plus sim cards are much more widely accepted and it makes it easier to switch phones. Who’s with me?

Bionic

i totally disagree. my brother has ATT and he hates it. Besides, you dont think ATT is going to have these same kind of plans soon?

dsass600

It’s not the plan that I care about. I care more about the other stuff I mentioned. Plus, I feel like Verizon just enjoys treating their customers like crap.

So whether the SIII is truly an amazing phone or not, sales will be out of this world with everyone jumping on the wagon before this hits. Motorola and HTC better think of something quick if they want a share of this

hkklife

It’s too late for Moto and HTC, at least on VZW. Samsung is the only company big enough and with the balls to stand up to VZW. Look how long VZW has been jerking around HTC fans with the Inc 4G LTE. Besides, it doesn’t matter…Moto has already been paid for X units of the RAZR HD by VZW, just like HTC has already sold Y # of Inc4Gs to VZW. Slow-moving handsets are Big Red’s problem now, at least in the short term.

will bartlett

what happens if i’m on a family plan right now and the people i’m with want to break of onto their own plans? would i be losing my unlimited data due to them leaving?

rich

Stop being idiots please… The CEO said publicly that unlimited data will go away even for the grandfathered plans…

daddy bubba

Can you please let me know when I need to be on a 4g Data plan before buying a 4g phone screws me over?

Man my primanry line has an upgrade, but my secondary it isn’t due to a upgrade on the 28th If I pre order the G3 on my main line then wait till the 28th for my second will they force me to the data shared?

spoon8972

If you guys are really worried about losing your data and you actually use it and not just complain about it and actually use a GB or less… if you have a 3g phone. VZW has been doing extremely early upgrades, with $100 off up to a FREE phone, for 3G smartphones to 4G androids for the past two months so that you can keep your unlimited data on 4G droids. All I know is that I love my FREE RAZR MAXX!!!
Anyway most ppl will save with the new plans… (2) lines 700 min/unl txt and 2 gb of web is $160, (2) lines 1400 min/unl txt and 2 gb of web is $180 and (2) lines unl min/unl txt and 2 gb of web is $210 with the new plans you get (2) lines unl min/unl txt and 4 gb of web shared for $160 so ppl will save money and if not get more for there money and can get rid of their home phones since they will have unl calling

FortitudineVincimus

not totally true.

I called them on this and it is select to some people. I posted about this in another blog post here. I have a 3G phone, want to go to 4G, been with VZW to 12 years, I could not get that offer. Maybe since I have been around so long they assumed I was going to stay around and so didn’t extend me the offer, but the best they offered me was a month free if I wen to a 4G phone. so you can’t just call and expect to get this $100 3G to 4G offer.

Liquidretro

I tweeted at Verizon this morning to ask about Business Customers. There response was “No changes have been made at this
point for our business customers. ^CM” So at least for the time being business customers are safe.

i have a feeling you’re right about this. in order to discourage customers from staying on their current plans.

MikeKorby

As long as new phones don’t climb past $700, I think I can stomach it, but I still think it is ridiculous that we are being forced away from our unlimited data. In my family, if we were on a shared plan, this month we would have already used over 53 gb of data, and the cycle doesn’t end until the 23… needless to say, unlimited is important.

Higher_Ground

I haven’t seen anything that would suggest you could keep unlimited data after your current contract expires… If you aren’t on contract you aren’t worth much to Verizon and there is no reason for them to not force you to pay the new data prices. Have fun buying off contract and then still having to pay an outrageous month to month bill.

I just hope the RAZR HD drops before then

Lord Dextro

In order to marginalize outrage, Verizon will allow you to keep your current plan. Once most of its customers are on the new plans and have grown to accept them, then a new policy of practice will be implemented. It will require all subscribers to be on contract. Those few who will (then) be outraged because they must choose new plans, will matter very little.
This is the way of the world. Make small changes/ corrections and those changes/ corrections will be successful in their implementation.

This seals the deal. The only way I’m staying with Verizon after my current contract expires, is if I can buy the phone directly from Google.

Brent Stewart

So let me get this straight because this is one confusing cluster f$^%. Right now we’re on a family plan with unlimited everything. We have two smart phones (both unlimited data), one mifi, and one feature phone on the plan. The earliest upgrade on any of those is in January 2013. No one can upgrade yet in our house. Come June 28th are we gonna get shoved on one of these shared data plans or only at the point of the next upgrade or addition which is obviously WAY after June 28th?

Only after you contract expires. Then you can either stay the way you are on the phones you have or upgrade your phone with contract to be shoved into this plan. You can also just buy phones not from Verizon or full retail to keep off contract and on unlimited.

PowersUSA

Simply put, if you want to keep your unlimited plan and get a new phone you will need to pay full retail for that phone. Getting a subsidized phone = new tiered plans.

enigmaco

Just got off the phone with verizon I have three months until I can upgrade my phone, the girl told me if you are 90 days or less out from your upgrade you can upgrade early. But you can only do it through customer care.

DanSan

I assume the cut off is the end of the day of June 28th correct? My brothers 2 year upgrade just happens to land on the 28th and hes trying to get a nexus. As long as upgrades done on the 28th wont remove unlimited data im golden. If im reading correctly, upgrade on the 28th you’re golden. upgrade on the 29th, get the lube.

MooleyBooleyTroll

I’m guessing it starts at 12:01am June 28th

Mina Beshara

So is everyone using any upgrades they have now on the S3? Is it worth doing that now, then flipping that for any other phone (RazrHD?) at full retail?

mustbepbs

If it’s worth it to you.

Kumar

I have 4 smartphones in my family plan. If I’m the only one planning to upgrade my phone after June 28th, what happens? Will I have an individual limited data plan or will my entire family be forced into the shared data plan?

Doug

I would like to know this myself. I preordered the Samsung sIII on the 6th and I was able to keep my unlimited data. The question I have is I have a 2 line family share plan and the next line is eligible for an upgrade what happens if my brother decides to upgrade his phone after the 28th is my line with the unlimited data going to be forced off to the new tiered plans?

cartisdm

This had to be answered. I can jump through all the hoops I want in order to keep my unlimited plan by the 28th but when my mom/sister/grandma upgrades their phone does it all go down the toilet?

Cynth

If you read it through on Verizon’s site it tells you that you do not have to upgrade to the share everything plan. You can simply keep your individual plans if you’d like. It’s just another option for a plan, that’s all it is. If the account holder decides to upgrade to a share everything plan, however, then you will have to worry about losing your unlimited otherwise you’re fine.

Mashirotenshi

It only affects the line that you upgrade. If you upgrade your line (extend the contract) when it validates the plans it forces current pricing. Since the other lines are not affected by this validation, only your features would have to be updated.

Atst88

If the Entry fee included only smartphone in the mix, I would gladly give up my unlimited plan for this. I would save approx $30/mo that way. But to give up unlimited and only get from 1400 minutes to unlimited (1400 is unlimited to me), This is a complete waste of cash.

MikeCiggy

For those that plan to buy off-contract phones. Pray that one of the new Nexus devices is compatible with Verizon 4G LTE and you can purchase rite from the play store.

Why? If there’s a Verizon capable version Verizon will sell it. People can buy it Unsubsidized from Verizon… Or are you saying this because it will likely cost less through the Play Store?

mustbepbs

Ding ding ding. We have a winner.

trixnkix637

I see what you did there.

MikeCiggy

Yup Verizon is selling the Nexus for what $650 and the play store is $400. Google knows people are trying to spend $800 on a phone.

SK

What if you are on a plan with both basic and smart phones? If one of the lines with a basic phone wants to upgrade (to another basic phone), would they be forced to switch the whole plan over to the new Share Everything plan?

These new plans are going to be $50 more expensive for my family plan with 5 lines! That’s insane.

Redflea

No. The only time an account would be switched en masse to the new shared data plan would be if a customer requested it. Each phone line is treated like a separate contract…if you upgrade one line after 6/28 to a subsidized phone, then that line is subject to the new charges/plans available at that point, but other lines on the account are not. I confirmed this in a detailed chat w/a VZW agent this AM,

What I did not ask, is what happens if you upgrade an existing feature phone (aka plain cell phone) to a new subsidized feature phone…I’m not sure if that could mean that that one line would have to go to the new $30/month fee for feature phones that is in the new plans, from the current $9.99/month line fee.

Yep, confirmed that today… If a feature phone is updated after 6/28, a new agreement is signed and the new ‘shared’ pricing structure takes over for that line.

The bad news there is that until the data is pooled, the feature phone cannot use the data feature…

balthuszar

So let me clarify for myself, let’s say we have 4 lines(a, b, c & d) if where line a is the main line(the one they use to id the account) and lines a&b have smartphones but c&d have basic phones and, say, line c has an upgrade. I can’t upgrade line c to a smartphone but transfer said smartphone to line a, and put line c back on its basic phone… Thus upgrading line a without using line A’s upgrade?

TROLOLOL

LOL. With some of the questions being asked around here, it sounds like we are all that guy in the SNL Verizon parody commercial!

Is this for Verizon pre-orders only or is Best Buy included? I preordered my gs3 a week ago from them

Jarred Sutherland

It’s silly to think that Verizon will not eventually (sooner rather than later, as always) force customers into the plans they want. They will do it, just like they have done with every other grandfathered plan in the past.

Shawn

well glad i used my upgrade yesterday for the S3 to at least have unlimited for two more years. i rarely use more then 2G anyway but im on a family plan but ill be damned if i pay 500+ for a phone lol

FortitudineVincimus

BUT if the SGS3 does not drop until after the June 28th date – is this still true?

It was when I did the PO last week, but they did not know new plan dates last week. Since we know the VZW SGS3 is not suppose to come out until after June 28th, did we just get screwed? Or, is the fact we did the PO still lock us into unlimited now like it did then before the new plan dates were announced?

Shawn

you will be locked into the unlimited.

FortitudineVincimus

So even if the new SGS3 I preordered does not come until AFTER June 28th – I get to keep my unlimited data.

Before this tiered plan info dropped, VZW guaranteed me my preorder of the SGS3 locked me into keeping unlimited data. Now that the info did drop, and the phone is not expected to ship until after the June 28th data, does that change things?

MooleyBooleyTroll

If you selected the $29.99 unlimited data with your order then that is what you will get.

confoosed

My mother in law is on my plan, and she wants an iphone, she has unlimited currently. if i upgrade now i understand she can keep the unlimited, but next time when i pay full price to keep the unlimited can i turn that to 4g unlimited? or do i have to go to tiered 4g?

You do not have to switch to Verizon’s new share everything data plans…. You just have to totally change how you’ve been going about everything.

DrFrank20

I am currently eligible for an upgrade now, but my wife is only one year into a 2 yr contract. If I go on the new plans, it might actually save us money because we are on separate individual plans. If I put us both on a new plan, does my wife now have to wait 2 yrs for her next upgrade or will her next upgrade date remain unchanged?

Yes. You either keep using the S3 or get a new phone at full price. This is subject to change though at Verizon’s whim.

violator702

This is just one big cluster f@#+

frankandsimple

I will be caught dead before I give a penny more to Verizon. I’ll continue to buy phones from craigslist/ebay.. .. and when that becomes unreasonable.. I’m switching to cricket or US cellular, or Straight Talk.. or T-Mobile.

verizonil

CALL VERIZON NOW AND COMPLAIN. The manager told me to tell everyone to call and complain before this takes effect. They may change when they see a majority of the people plan to leave!

domainThisthat

in order for this to happen, people need to have proof that they will pay more. someone create a simple calculator website that will show the increase in price for a person.

I used the Verizon calculator & I will pay more with this new plan for my 2 smart phones & 1 dumb phone before taxes, fees & insurance. I’ve been with Verizon since their inception & this is new everything is a crock of shit! I have 3 peeps on my plan & 1 is a teen I have no reason for an everything plan except for texting…..we have never gone over our 700 mins of talk. I will probably leave Verizon once my plans are up especially since I have almost 2 years on 1 line.

thajack

$330 isn’t bad… I just left the Verizon store and my plan would have gone up $50/month.

Mashirotenshi

You’re complaining to customer service, that doesn’t impact corporate decision making. Not to mention that just because you call in, doesn’t mean your opinion gets forwarded on to the ‘right’ people. Usually in cases like this you would have to bombard all venus of correspondence for anyone that can impact it to take note. (Aka have wait times over 30 mins for customer service, 3+ days for e-mail, months for letters)

jjt to save the day

Call Sylvia Thomas [Executive Relations Office] @ 240-568-2185

Yes this is the real number for the ERO. Also, call the FCC. Flood FCC with calls about this _and_ the new $30 upgrade fee. Verizon continues to ask more out of customers while providing us with less. The only way they will get the picture is through incessant complaints from customers and investigations from the FCC, and of course, fear of losing a multitude of customers!

Good luck Big Red customers!!! Get pissed and get on it!!!

trparky

I called them asking about all of this and I told the guy on the other end of the line that there is a social media shit storm out there on Facebook and Twitter. Now, he did try and say that we won’t be forced into these new plans but then I said in reply that if that is TRULY the case, it needs to be communicated to the people because Twitter and Facebook are both on fire with angry comments.

dragonflyr

did it … thanks for the number. i got voicemail and left a …. message. it is a real number.

got voice mail, left a polite message saying my 12 Years of business will be going to another carrier.

chicagotiger

you mean the FCC chairman and former media executive that just allowed Comcast to quietly start charging for tiered data services ????

Guest

The FCC sets/controls Verizon’s price changes????
The FCC sets/controls how much data Verizon offers in each of its plans???

jjt to save the day

No. FCC gets a whole bunch of pissed off calls (or rather, complaints filed online), and they get all into Verizon’s shit, causing Verizon a huge PR nightmare and the specter of regulators breathing down their backs… Sometimes these things have an effect on the decisions that companies ultimately make. Consumers must band together and stop bending over for these pricks… that’s what agencies like the FTC are for as well. The reason they get away with it is because WE let them. People say they will leave for another carrier, but Bog Red is pretty cocky! They know that we know their network can’t be touched, so they just keep ramming it in! I digress to your original questions. FCC controls the airwaves. They also take and investigate complaints about anything that falls within that jurisdiction. No, they don’t always come through… but neither does God!

Everybody, off your knees and tell the almighty and vehemently pompous Big Red that we are tired of being nickled and dimed and ever-more squeezed by their greedy talons during this recession where folks are already hurting. If they are not careful, they will find they are pricing people out of the market.

Seriously this is just greedy on their part. I mean they seriously can’t expect to look good in anyones eyes anymore after this. Full retail so we don’t have to pay more for their plans…..THEY STILL GET OUR MONEY! It’s a catch 22. AHHHHH!!!!!!

ahhhhhh

fffffffffffffffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu………………………

ksmckay

I got a nexus and while it is a great phone the signal quality and battery life is terrible for me compared to all of my motorola phones including my Bionic which has been fantastic for me (cept that it is still on GB). Any reason to believe the GSIII will be any better than the Nexus in terms of signal and battery than the Nexus? (I have an upgrade available and was thinkin about the RAZR Maxx)

IMO no. Moto will always be better than Sammy when it comes to signal, at least. (ok maybe not “always”, but you know…)

mustbepbs

Won’t know until we get an LTE review.

john

I really hope that everyone that says they hate Verizon, well actually leave. That means more bandwidth for every else.

EvanTheGamer

There won’t be a company if everyone left. That would be insane…if everyone(like 80% of Verizon’s customers) left…wow, that would be insanity.

john

My point is, every person will have some reason to B***H about one thing or another. Life sucks, deal with it. Also, not everyone is going to switch to a different carrier. People just need to grow up.

EvanTheGamer

I don’t complain much, but when greedy companies take advantage of its most loyal of customers, I will complain.

I’m wondering if craigslist or ebay phones qualify as full retail, that was my plan from the get go. Looks like I’m heading down to verizon grr, Verizon is like a psycho ex girlfriend they just do anything possible to piss you off.

Detonation

A phone is phone. As long as you’re not buying one subsidized via a contract it doesn’t matter where you get it (other than the warranty might not be the same).

enigmaco

One would think that but with business logic it is hard telling what they would do.

TROLOLOL

or Verizon logic…

MKader17

I think people are getting confused with the unsubsidized/ full retail phones. Any phone you buy that is not discounted by Verizon is not subsidized. You can buy any phone that works on Verizon’s network and use it on your current plan as long as Verizon didn’t help you cover some of the bill.

enigmaco

That’s all I wanted to know, basically if Verizon doesn’t have their hands on the lowering of their bill then your good. Thanks for the clarification.

This is making me rethink my wifi usage. Just out of principal I may start using 4G only to maximize my Data Usage. No more subsidizing phones for me.

LionStone

Hell yea Joe,Use it up! 😉 The only time I pay for wifi is when I fly, other than that, I’m on the West/East coast and covered pretty good in 4G. Yep, just save up some bucks then buy the new phone you want. I believe you can even pay half or whatever and float the rest on your account.

But the preorder process through Verizon has you agreeing to the new contract and phone right when you preorder whereas through Best Buy you don’t confirm you keep your plan until you pick up your phone. Best Buy has the release date at June 28 with it being more likely on a date after that. So since you can’t confirm a plan with Best Buy before June 28 should I switch to Verizon?

Brandon

Right. And if you don’t pick up your phone at best buy they will just put it into their general inventory to sell to someone else, almost as if it’s not your phone until you pick it up and agree to the contract.

I pre-ordered from best buy to avoid $37 in sales tax, but I think I am going to abandon phone that and pre-order from Verizon online instead.

so if you buy a new phone at FULL price to keep your unlimited data. . say most new phones are going for around $600 FULL PRICE and $200 for subsidized.. you’re paying an extra $400 which is equal to paying an extra $16.66/month covering a 2 yr contract

LiterofCola

I use a little over 2gb of data a month so I would have to go for the 4gb tier, unlimited call and texts comes with it for about 110.00 a month. And that includes the subsidized prices for new phones. OR I could keep my unlimited data and still pay my 110.00 a month, but pay full retail for phones from now on…..uh-oh.

MKader17

Don’t forget that taxes are not included and possibly insurance if you have it.

I feel you bro I am up on the 30th of June I have already called VZW and complained.

Mina Beshara

Quick question. I have a family plan now with two smartphones and three dumb feature phones. One of the feature phones has an available upgrade now. If I use that to get a new smartphone, say the S3, can i just cancel the data plan and switch that phone to one of the lines with a smartphone, with no penalty?

What’s the scoop on corporate discounts? How are they now going to be calculated?

Br_d

You can also keep unlimited data AND get subsidized phones by switching to Sprint, which is probably what I’ll end up doing at the end of my contract as long as they get LTE in my area.

Yeah, their network is not as good as vzw, but I live in a large metropolitan area, so my coverage should be ok. They seem to be much more consumer-friendly. I like that.

John

Thank you for confirming this. I have thought that was going to be the case all this time. I wish people would quit taking bits and pieces of there statement and blowing it out of proportion. This is pretty good and I wish I knew this before I bought my tablet. I would have bought a 4G model instead of WiFi only. O’well. In my current plan and rate, It would cost my $30 more a month. So I will be staying for on my current plan, for now.

Mordecaidrake

So I can pay full price for phones, but what if someone in my family upgrades because they’re sure as hell not gonna pay full price. Does that switch everyone over to this new garbage?

cartisdm

Someone find the answer to this!!! Just because I upgrade by the 28th, what happens to my contract when my family members upgrade later?

Mashirotenshi

A reply to the same question-
It only affects the line that you upgrade. If you upgrade your line (extend the contract) when it validates the plans it forces current pricing. Since the other lines are not affected by this validation, only your features would have to be updated.

Erick

I am curious how family share plans are affected.

Since they count subsidized pricing on the main line, I wonder how they treat the alternate lines when it comes to upgrading phones.

Ok…perhaps I am missing something. June 28th is the go live date on this thing. My contract isn’t up until next Dec (2013) and I cannot upgrade until June or July 2013. Am I going to be forced to make a decision on this before my contract is over or is this something that will come up when it is time to upgrade or the contract runs out?

steve0617

Because you are already on an existing contract, nothing *has* to change. However, you can move to the new shared plan if you wanted to, without extending your contract.

I just got off the phone with customer service and the gal told me that I could upgrade off contract for now and not go into the share everything plan, but she said they won’t tell exactly what will happen (off contract) until June 28th because that is “proprietary information”. Which I guess I am a little negative now, but that didn’t sound good for even buying off contract in the future.

wilson yyt

my contract ends on the 2nd week of july
FUUUUUUUU verizon

Tommy

What happens if someone on my line decides the shared everything plan is a good idea? Am i forced into shared everything and loose my unlimited data?

The average unsubsidized phone price from Verizon is $650. The highest is $850 (hello iPhone!). Tablets can hit $900. It will hurt to keep unlimited data.

Incidentally, you can blame Verizon’s CDMA network for making them so expensive. Since CDMA is only used in two regions (about 30 countries total and shrinking), a CDMA radio is many times more expensive than an HSPA+ radio.

mustbepbs

Yeah but people will argue that saving money over the course of a 2 year contract with their unlimited data is worth the $700-800 up front. I don’t have that kind of cash lying around, so unlimited data goes bye-bye.

Snow02

If you use 10 GB of data, even buying full retail new devices, you do save a considerable amount of money. Of course, there’s several possible scenarios depending on how many lines you have on an account with the new share everything plans, but at least for an individual account, you save $50/month. Over two years that’s $1200. Minus $700 (on the high end) leaves you with saving $500 every two years.

Clearly, it makes sense to keep unlimited for even moderately heavy data users. And once you factor in that you can always pick up devices a couple months after release for $300-400, it just makes even more sense. With the increasing amount of services that we’re using data for, I just can’t see jumping off unlimited for anything. I don’t abuse it, but I don’t want to have to think about it either.

But for the majority of people (i.e., not most droid-life readers), 10 GB would probably be an extraordinary amount of data to use, and therefore subsidized phones w/ tiered data might make more sense for them. The best thing to do is make sure people are informed and let them make the best decision for their situation.

mustbepbs

Absolutely. I completely agree that for people who actually use that much data (and aren’t just taking advantage of unlimited) would benefit from spending the money off contract, which is what I said. I just don’t have that kind of cash and am on really great WiFi 90% of the time.

10 GB of data goes pretty quick when you’re Truck Drivers that must have the data to function out here. And we lost our Unlimited when we switched to the 4G Air card. 1 Aircard and 4 phones…. this is going to hurt.

Larry

If you are a heavy user, it can easily be worth more than that under VZW’s new data pricing structure. Some people use 12-20GB a month, while extreme data users use much more than that.

Larry

That entirely depends on how reliant the customer is on data. If they are using it as their primary source of internet or streaming a lot of media, they’ll more than likely spend more under VZW’s new data pricing structure if they upgrade at a subsidized price and switch to the new shared data pricing. I don’t abuse data by no means, but it sure is tempting to get my moneys worth since I’ll be paying full retail price to keep my unlimited data. Of course I’ll buy it from anybody but VZW if I’m paying full retail price and have the option to drop VZW whenever I feel like it.

JSK

Actually more are 199. The maxx is the only 200+ phone right now outside of the upcoming 32GB GSIII.

My Hubby’s phone, the Razor Max retails for nearly $800…. you get it for $199.99 WITH the upgrade and contract extension. Unsubsidized is going to be the nearly $800 price… NOT the $200.

SheilaD

I recently purchased a Droid Razr (not the Maxx), and without the plan, It would have been $900+! With my plan, I still paid $314. I could only afford it because I got my tax return! I don’t have $900 sitting around to spend on a phone I don’t really need. I work part time in a small town grocery store! I make barely enough to pay all my bills, including my cell phone bill.

Common Sense

Then why do you have an expensive cell phone that you “don’t really need”? It might better serve you to use a feature phone and save that money for more important things.

Anthony Wood

Stick $20 dollars a week in a savings account for 1 year and you will have $1040 for your next smart phone. If you can’t afford to save $20 a week for a year you shouldn’t have a smart phone because you can’t afford it.

After my s3 gets outdated I’m switching to GSM carrier. Yes I will be capped on data, however no overages. Also, if I am going to be paying full retail price, I might as well have access to any phone/tablet that I want w/ very limited carrier restrictions, faster software updates generally, and less bloatware amongst other things.

You could switch now. Switching to something like T-Mobile’s Value plans allow you to purchase phone upgrades any time during the contract you want, provided you’re willing to pay for it (and it won’t extend your plan contract).

Kevin McDole

That’s what I plan on doing when my Rezound lives out its life.

jjt to save the day

They’re not gonna let you use any lube!

Emilio_Buttsextivez

I’ll pay unsubsidized to keep unlimited, For those of us that tether for free, I don’t really have an option.

Actually, the Share Everything plans all include free tethering. You just don’t have unlimited data to swim around in. Not that that’s really better…

Larry

Verizon is going to piss off a lot of unlimited data plan customers and make them less likely to upgrade phones when they are eligible. For me, who hasn’t ever taken advantage of the unlimited data plan, I’ll just make it worth the full retail price I’m going to pay with the option of dropping Verizon whenever I like. So cheers to Verizon.

frankandsimple

so I guess it’s good bye to subsidized phones.. and hello to Craigslist and Ebay. If it wasn’t for the horrendous fees that ebay is now charging.. (double slam with pay pal and ebay both charging us).. Ebay would have been my first choice.
But these days, I find craigslist to be much better.

Seth

This is such bull Verizon. There is no way in heck I will be paying 600 for a phone to keep my unlimited. I would truly love to leave Verizon out of spite, but there is no where else to go. Guess I don’t really have a choice. My middle finger is staring straight at you Vzw.

frankandsimple

Look at T-Mobile. I tried them for a month and honestly, they are very good. Plans are cheaper.. coverage (as long as you are in metro areas).. is pretty good.. and they have some good phones too that are easily unlockable.
Their HSPA+ “4G” network does not suck battery juice as much as LTE.. and the speeds are very very good too. (in the 7-12 Mbps range).

Seth

Thanks for the reply Frank. When my contract is up next year ill be sure to look into T-Mobile. Hopefully their 4g coverage expands a little more through out the country.

frankandsimple

They do advertise that their 4G coverage is the largest in the nation. But obviously they are referring to their HSPA+ coverage… which is actually in more places than LTE I believe.

Evan

What if we want to upgrade a 3G phone to a 4G phone (without subsidy), will be be forced to change plans ?

TROLOLOL

That’s the whole point of going from 3G to 4G LTE, so you can use up more data and when you use your alotted GBs/month you get automatically charged an additional data fee!

bduncan6

My understanding is that the answer to this question is “yes,” as in you will be forced to ‘change’ plans [upon bringing a 4g phone onto a 3g plan] as I believe VZ officially recognizes 3g and 4g under separate contracts. Again, this is just the way I understand the situation to be…

Evan

It might be worth it to get a used 4G phone for my 3G line, and make the switch before June 28th. The way I see it, I won’t be saving any money with the new shared plans, but will lose unlimited data.

bigdav1178

Actually, I’ve read just the opposite – that your contract is recognized the same way regardless of it being a 3G or 4G phone. I think Evan can upgrade to a 4G phone off-contract without changing his plan, but I would verify that with a VZW rep prior to these plans going into effect, just in case.

BigFonz

I did this myself. My wife and an original Incredible, we got a Razr for her through craigslist, went to a store and said I need a 4G LTE chip for this phone, they charged me 3 bucks and that was it. Everything stayed the same. She still has unlimited data.

I upgraded my droid 1 and preordered the s3 online and confirmed via phone rep. In reviewing my email confirmation I ddnt notice any change in to my data plan

Champion1229

How would this work? My family account has three different smartphone lines all with unlimited data but we all have different upgrade dates (one next month, one in november and one in january)…..would we all be forced into it when the first person upgrades?

Nibirur

This is crazy. I use a minimum of 20GB (regularly 50GB) just streaming Netflix and Podcasts all day at work. There’s just no way I’m losing my unlimited data, specially sense I don’t make that many calls, and use free texting services.
Oh well, I usually upgrade phones every 4 moths anyway so that’s not a big deal for me, but I will miss those subsidies.

Well..yeah. Since you’re used to paying out the nose for smartphones every 4 months, what’s the difference? Just keep buying phones off contract. Are you just stroking your bank account or something?

Google

No you don’t. Thanks for making up the story but you are lying. The average Netflix movie uses about 150MB of your data plan. That is about .14GB. So for ever GB of data usage you would need to watch about 7.14 moves to make up 1GB. So according to your “minimum of 20GB(regularly 50GB)” you would need to watch a “minimum of 142 movies(regularly 357 movies) per month. The average movie is about 1.5 hours(sitcoms are less but so is the data usage) which translate to a “minimum of 213 hours of movie watching(regularly 535.5 hrs). 24 hours x 30 days per month = 720 hours per month. Or maybe its mostly podcasts which are even less data due to their lack of video(assuming its audio podcast, if not the above applies). Thanks for playing.

Are they MAKING us buy a full retail phone to keep unlimited, or can we buy a used phone (ebay)?

JohnPA2006

You always have the ebay option, provided the phone you get has a clean ESN.
Just bought a used Verizon Samsung Galaxy Nexus and activated it onto my existing plan on Verizon, I am keeping my unlimited.

BigFonz

Is there a way to check ESN’s prior to buying a phone off ebay or craiglist?

I am on a family plan and I am the only one with data at the moment. If someone else upgrades their phone does that get rid of my Unlimited Data? If so is there a way for me to split my line off the family plan (I am not the main number) and keep my Unlimited?

Can they? Yes. Will they? Probably not. The current statement from VZW is that you only get forced off your unlimited package if you get a subsidized phone. In a couple of years they could easily change that since your contract period sets the limits of how long they are required to let you keep what you have (as the word “contract” implies).

a “dumb” phone with unlimited data? Are you sure it has unlimited data and not just unlimited talk and text. I could have sworn unlimited was only an option on smart phones

mustbepbs

Reading comprehension. He’s not talking about his dumb phone having unlimited data, he’s talking about his smartphone having it. He’s asking if he upgrades a dumb phone, will it affect his smartphone unlimited data. The answer is: nobody really knows until it happens or Verizon divulges more info.

I have 1 smartphone w/ unlimited data on my plan and 2 “dumb” phones with no data, I meant will I loose my unlimited on the smart phone if I upgrade one of the others.

Yitz

Kellex – any updates on the incr 4G? Will it really be out by the 21st???

Dill

If it is not out by the 21st then I am going to preoder the S3.

Yitz

I hear you but I’m not ready to hold a 5″ tablet to my ear every time I need to make a call….4″ is what I want and I hope it’s before the 28th.

Edward

Hopefully someone can answer this for me. Example: family plan with 4 smart phones + 1 basic phone. I know for sure I do not want to lose my unlimited data, so I will continue to buy off-contract. But what happens when a family member upgrades with 2-year contract price?

I don’t have any official answer but, if Verizon does not allow mixed options, you could split the shared phones to their own plan. To make that a good deal you would really have to need that unlimited data.

JDHokie

My (uneducated) guess is that if all 4 phones have unlimited, and one phone owner upgrades (at subsidized price) – they would get a tiered data package (2 GB for $30). However, if they’re an authorized user and decide to change the entire family plan to a Shared Everything plan, all phones would be affected. Basically, everyone on a family plan has to be on the same page regarding upgrades.

??? That totally replied to the wrong thing or you ninja edited your post lol

Br_d

It sounds like you can keep unlimited as long as you don’t get a carrier-subsidized phone, so buying a used phone and activating it should be ok. But I would verify with a vzw rep before purchasing, just to be on the safe side.

while i think 16 days is actually suffiecient time for you and me. there are plenty of people that wont even hear about these changes until they go in to the store or dial 611.

JDHokie

Yep. And the Verizon rep isn’t going to be upfront with them when it’s time to upgrade. That’s my biggest peeve in this – the information isn’t widely available to average users.

King of Nynex

Exactly. I don’t expect VZ to be sending out flyers detailing what’s going to happen to unlimited data this week.

Fattie McDoogles

That’s not true. This is far more cost effective for Verizon and most of their users. We have to remember that WE are the minority user. WE make up the 1% on each carrier. This is great for most carriers and most customers. I am a heavy data user and I am seriously thinking about switching because it will save me almost $100 off what I’m currently paying. That’s with the $100 10 GB plan

SheilaD

I only heard about it because there was an article in my local paper that I happened to see at work. Verizon SHOULD have informed all of their subscribers.

But he didn’t know the details, or when. Hard to make any type of decisions when you have no facts.

hkklife

Agreed 100x. At bare minimum, they should have announced this 30 days prior to it actually taking effect. I am seeing a lot of PO’d folks on FB, Twitter and various forums today! I was expecting the shared plans to kick in close to the 1yr anniversary of tiered data plans (July 6th) so this came as no surprise to me other than to see HOW much more I would pay under the pricing terms of the new family shared plans.

Personally, I bet Samsung forced VZW’s hand to release the GS3 in line with the other carriers…otherwise, we’d have seen VZW sit on the GS3 just like the RAZR HD and use it to try and force users into giving up their unlimited plans.

Mashirotenshi

Their hand was forced. Too many news agencies kept pushing the rumored plans, too many people were asking about it. Meanwhile, AT&T gets more time now to come out with better ones around fall while VZW takes the heat.

Fattie McDoogles

This is so true. But that good thing is VZW will be able to match or counter AT&T’s prices by the spring. So by this time next year we will already have better options. And it will only continue to get more affordable from there.

Yeah, wasn’t it alleged in the media/online recently that vzw was switching to Shared data/plans because ‘customers asked for shared data plans?’ I don’t remember receiving an email, a paper document in mail or asked to participate in any survey about this shared data crap.

“Customers have told us that they want to share data, similar to how they share
minutes today.” **

Dunno who these customers are. Do these customers know who “they” are?

ThatGuy

Just because you didn’t ask for it doesn’t mean that customers don’t walk into stores all over the US every day and ask if they can share data like they do their minutes. It happens all the time in the stores.

Why would anybody want to share 2GB when they already have unlimited. I don’t see the logic here. I pay more for my 1 10 GB than I do for 4 unlimited plans.

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